A method for controlling the temperature of a baking oven containing a catalyst is known, for example, from German Patent DE 197 06 186. In this method, the oven chamber temperature and the catalyst temperature can be controlled separately because the catalyst has a separate catalyst heater. Temperature-time profiles, or threshold values, which are dependent on the selected operating mode, for example, the pyrolytic mode, are stored in the control unit for the oven chamber temperature and the catalyst temperature. If the pyrolysis temperature is not reached within a predetermined time, then the oven chamber heater is turned off for safety reasons. If threshold values for the catalyst temperature, which are also predefined, should be exceeded during pyrolysis, then the oven chamber heater, or the catalyst heater, is turned off as well.
Furthermore, German Patent Application DE 196 06 571 A1 describes a temperature control method in which a pyrolytic cleaning process is controlled as a function of the oven chamber temperature and of a soil sensor that detects the catalyst temperature. In this method, in a first phase of the cleaning process, the oven chamber is heated to about 300° C. only as a function of the oven chamber temperature. In a subsequent second phase of the cleaning process, the oven chamber is then further heated to a maximum temperature required for the pyrolytic cleaning process only as a function of the catalyst temperature.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,501 describes a temperature control method in which during a pyrolytic cleaning process, the oven chamber is heated only as a function of the catalyst temperature. Once the catalyst temperature exceeds a predefined value, the oven chamber heater is turned off, stopping the pyrolytic cleaning process.
Another temperature control method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,584 B1. In this method, the pyrolysis time is controlled as a function of the oven chamber temperature and the catalyst temperature. Once the catalyst temperature, after it has first exceeded the oven chamber temperature, falls below this temperature, the pyrolytic cleaning process is terminated after a predetermined period of time has elapsed.
Furthermore, European Patent Application EP 0 878 667 A2 describes a method in which the pyrolytic cleaning process is terminated when the temperature difference between the catalyst temperature and the oven chamber temperature falls below a predefined value.